Born in Rome, he took acting classes at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome under the guidance of Italian actor and theater director Luca Ronconi. Pierfrancesco Favino promptly entered the spotlight for his roles in the feature films The Prince of Homburg by Marco Bellocchio (1997), The Last Kiss by Gabriele Muccino (2001), El Alamein – The Line of Fire by Enzo Monteleone (2002) and The Keys to the House by Gianni Amelio (2004).
His film career continued with such Italian hits as the crime thriller Romanzo Criminale by Michele Placido (2005), The Unknown Woman by Giuseppe Tornatore (2006), Saturn in Opposition by Ferzan Ozpetek (2007) and Come Undone by Silvio Soldini (2010). He has worked with other major Italian directors such as Giuliano Montaldo in The Entrepreneur (2011), Stefano Sollima in the thrillers A.C.A.B. – All Cops Are Bastards (2012) and Suburra (2015), Marco Tullio Giordana in Piazza Fontana (2012), Roberto Andò in The Confessions (2016), and again with Gabriele Muccino in Kiss Me Again (2010), There’s No Place Like Home (2018) and The Best Years (2020).
With Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor, presented in competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, Pierfrancesco Favino gained unanimous international recognition thanks to his portrayal of repentant mafioso Masino Buscetta, winning the Silver Ribbon – the third in his career – and a David di Donatello Award for Best Actor. The film represented Italy for the 2020 Academy Awards. That same year, he played the role of Bettino Craxi in Gianni Amelio’s Hammamet, earning another Silver Ribbon and the Golden Globe for Best Actor. Also that year, Claudio Noce’s film Padrenostro played at the Venice Mostra, earning him the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. The year 2020 ended with All for One, One for All, the sequel to Giovanni Veronese’s Italian swashbuckler The King’s Musketeers.
Pierfrancesco Favino has also participated in many international productions, such as Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna (2007), Andrew Adamson’s The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), Ron Howard’s Angels & Demons (2009) and Rush (2013), Marc Forster’s World War Z (2013), Christine Carrière’s A Mother (2015), Roger Michell’s My Cousin Rachel (2017), Ben Lewin’s The Catcher Was a Spy (2018) and Amanda Sthers’ Promises (2021). He has also graced the small screen in some of Italy’s most popular television productions, such as Alberto Negrin’s Bartali: The Iron Man (2006), Bread and Freedom (2009) and Qualunque cosa succeda (2014), as well as Carlo Carlei’s Il générale Della Rovere (2011).
In theater, Pierfrancesco Favino has written, directed and acted in the plays “Servo per Due” and “La Controra.” In recent years, he appeared in the one-act play “Night Just Before the Forests.” These plays received two Maschera d’Oro awards, the highest Italian honor. He is also director of the Oltrarno School in Florence for actors and has been a Motion Picture Academy member since 2020.
Last year began with the success in Italy of the romantic comedy I Run to You by Riccardo Milani. The actor once again climbed the steps of the Cannes Festival Palais with Mario Martone’s film noir Nostalgia, presented in competition. He will soon be seen on the French screens in Andrea Di Stefano’s crime thriller The Last Night of Amore, presented at this year’s Reims Polar.
